They'll Always Come Back
by polarbear815
Summary: Short Sterek darbble inside Derek's head with him thinking about how the pack came to be and how he fell in love with Stiles.


People come and go. Mostly go.

Derek knew this since he was 14. Since his entire family burned alive under his account. He had Laura, yes, but then fate reared his ugly face again taking her and leaving him alone. And then he had Peter, back from dead practically, only to have to be brought back down.

He never thought he'd meet Scott McCall and his crazy hyperactive friend. Never thought he'd have people that he could call his pack. A dysfunctional group of teenagers that would evidently become his family. He didn't think that he'd contain Jackson and bring him back to reality. He never thought Lydia would've come to him demanding answers. He wouldn't have guessed he'd have this pack. These people that he would roll his eyes at, sometimes make him fume on the inside, but that's what family was about. Those crazy sons of bitches that made you feel like your skin was igniting only to turn around and be the same people who you'd fight to the death to protect.

From Scott, the not-so-smart kid who he now considered his brother, all the way to Erica who he would scold for wearing too short of a top or skirt out in public. And Jackson with his Porsche and expensive clothes who turned into a soft little puppy around Lydia, the girl who could come up with the quickest plans. Boyd, the quiet and silent type who only ever opened up to Allison of all people, the one that had the power and mind to kill their kind but chose love instead. And then Isaac, sarcastic and quick who was the first of the wolves to find their anchor, his father of all things.

But then there was him.

The one human who couldn't seem to get away. The one who could connect himself with his pack in ways Derek could never seem to grasp. The boy in the red hoodie, the one with the brains, who could use his words to get him out of any situation, the very one Derek fell in love with.

He would never admit it aloud, but Stiles knew. He knew Derek loved when Stiles would come over unannounced with enough snacks to feed a small army and movies to last the night. He knew that Derek loved it more when he brought Scott and Allison along. Even more so when Jackson and Lydia were with them.

Stiles just knew. He'd like to say that was his "gift". Where the wolves had their own powers, Lydia her immunity, and Allison her huntress skills, he had his knowledge, his research skills, his way of knowing. He knew when Erica was feeling down that she liked to watch Buffy, or that Isaac never ate pepperoni on his pizza. Stiles always made sure to get a whole plain pie just for him.

He knew when Scott was thinking about his dad and was wondering why he wasn't good enough for him to stick around, Stiles would just feel it. And when Stiles and Scott would suddenly go missing for a few hours Derek knew not to question it, as did the rest of the pack.

Stiles was the only one smart enough to study with Lydia, or brave enough to tell Jackson to shut his mouth when he complains about not being able to tell Danny about the pack. And Stiles being Stiles agreed to watch whatever television show Boyd and Allison were currently wrapped up in. Derek knew Stiles loved it just as much as the other two, but he never called him out on it.

Even though all those things that Stiles did for the pack warmed Derek's heart and brought them closer together, it was the things that he did unconsciously that had the biggest effect.

When he gravitated towards whoever was hurting the most, internally or externally. When he tucked in the pups after a long fight, or trek through the woods. When Stiles would look at Derek and give him that nod that told him that he was here, he was with them, he wasn't going anywhere.

It was those moments Derek knew that he loved Stiles. That the kisses they shared, the touches and words, were just the bricks of the house. The outline, the foundation. That the roof, the décor the paintings that lined the wall were made up of what he did for the others. What made Derek love Stiles was his love for others.

His heart. His soul.

And when Stiles would complain about being pack mom (Erica's doing) Derek knew that secretly inside Stiles loved it, yearned for it.

And when Stiles turned to Derek one night and said "Thank you", Derek didn't have to ask what for. He knew. He always knew when it came to Stiles, mostly because they seemed to always feel the same way.

Derek knows what he's thanking him for, though he feels as if he should be thanking Stiles. Derek may have bound most of them by the bite, but Stiles bound their hearts. He made them feel accepted and gave them all that sense of family that they were all searching so desperately for.

Stiles will press his lips to Derek's, tell him he loves him, then turn over letting Derek nuzzle against his neck and just breathe him in like he does every night they get a chance to be like this. That he can rest easy with Stiles' scent in his nose and his even heartbeat in his ears. The sound of the tv buzzing lightly in the other room with Boyd, Scott's and Allison's even breathing, Isaac and Erica's hushed whispers of love in their newly shared room, and Lydia and Jackson's soft talk of prom while they're cuddled on the couch not too far from the television. He'll sleep easy knowing his pack, his mate, that their safe from the monsters that lurk in the darkness that's become their world.

And Derek knows that people do leave. That they'll go off to college, start lives, have families of their own. But Stiles tells him they'll come back, that family will always come back.

Derek will think about all the people that left in his life. But somehow it's all okay, that his open wounds have been sealed over, and he's able to trust again, to love again.

And people go yes, but when they come they come with heart, with soul, with love. They'll come as a pack.

* * *

_A/N: Oh Sterek my new love ;) Review and share thanks bb's!_

post/28775439094/idk-wtf-this-is-but-i-wrote-a-sterek-fic

_It's also right there lol_


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